Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. This is Bloomberg Markets.
Speaker 1: I'm Scarlett Food. It's time now for Stock of the
Speaker 1: Hour and it's the two companies behind the joint venture
Speaker 1: bet MGM, London based ent Tain and Las Vegas based
Speaker 1: MGM Resorts International, both moving in opposite directions on the
Speaker 1: eve of the new NFL season. Now, the American Gaming
Speaker 1: Association projects a record thirty five billion dollars of bets
Speaker 1: will be entered into legal sportsbooks this season. Bet MGM
Speaker 1: aims to score a piece of that action. Bet MGM
Speaker 1: CEO Adam green Black joins us now from Jersey City. Adam,
Speaker 1: great to speak with you. College football has already begun,
Speaker 1: and of course the NFL season will kick off tomorrow.
Speaker 1: What can you tell us about the kinds and the
Speaker 1: sizes of wagers that have already been placed before those
Speaker 1: seasons both seasons really get underway.
Speaker 2: Well, we've seen continued encouraging growth in the participation of
Speaker 2: NFL wagering. We've seen strong double digit growth year on
Speaker 2: your on NFL futures. For this season, we're offering over
Speaker 2: one thousand different kinds of wagering opportunities on NFL futures,
Speaker 2: and for every single pro game, we'll be offering four
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty different kinds of events, different kinds of markets,
Speaker 2: so a lot to choose from, more than ever before.
Speaker 1: In fact, yeah, I mean those numbers are kind of stunning,
Speaker 1: more than four hundred ways to bet on each football
Speaker 1: game on the day of Can you be a little
Speaker 1: more specific in telling us what new products you're offering
Speaker 1: and introducing this year and how they're exclusive to bet MGM.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, absolutely so. Over the last few months, we've been
Speaker 2: working hard to integrate a sports pricing business called Angstrom,
Speaker 2: which was acquired by Ententain, and so for the first
Speaker 2: time this season, we're going to be bringing the power
Speaker 2: of Angst to our players. And so the things that
Speaker 2: are unlocked by that integration are parlay enhancements, easy to build,
Speaker 2: same game parlays, same game parlay plus prepackaged parlays. We've
Speaker 2: got some really interesting, i think consumer only at bet
Speaker 2: MGM consumer offerings. So, for example, who's going to score
Speaker 2: the first touchdown for the one PM slate of games? God,
Speaker 2: that's quite something to kick off the afternoon.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, so people will have their choice when it comes
Speaker 1: time to it. You know, I think about your competition
Speaker 1: and draftings. When they reported earnings last month, they said
Speaker 1: they were experimenting with plans of imposing surcharges for customers
Speaker 1: in high tax states like New York, like Illinois. Will
Speaker 1: you be doing the same or is it more important
Speaker 1: for bet MGM to gain market share by keeping customers
Speaker 1: payouts higher?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the latter At the moment. There's no
Speaker 2: intent to pass on any tax taxes to players. There
Speaker 2: are examples in foreign jurisdictions where that initiative, you know,
Speaker 2: passing on texts to players has been rolled back. So
Speaker 2: you know, what we really bias for is customer centricity,
Speaker 2: and so our stance on text is consistent with that.
Speaker 1: Got it? Got it. You've talked Adam about how twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four is a year of investment, So I'd like
Speaker 1: you to give us some color on what that means
Speaker 1: and what that looks like. Where are you planning to
Speaker 1: spend the most to acquire customers? Are you looking to
Speaker 1: convince those who are on DraftKings or fan duel to
Speaker 1: come over, or are you looking to grow the pie
Speaker 1: through bet MGM. Just give us some sense of how
Speaker 1: you're moving forward with that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, investment in top line momentum is critical.
Speaker 2: For twenty twenty four, we stated that that is our
Speaker 2: intent both acquisition and retention. We've got tremendous partnerships with
Speaker 2: the social media platform X, with Marriott, Bonvoy, and with
Speaker 2: Associated Press. These are all exclusive to BETMGM. And we
Speaker 2: also have our how to describe it a magic potion
Speaker 2: in Nevada, unlocking the power of Nevada for BEDMGM.
Speaker 1: We are.
Speaker 2: We have an omni channel strategy as core to our
Speaker 2: go to market proposition. We have recently rolled out our
Speaker 2: best in class, certainly leadings sports app in Nevada and
Speaker 2: also linked it with our single wallet framework, which means
Speaker 2: that players from any of BEDMGM states can visit Nevada,
Speaker 2: continue their betting experience with BEDMGM, and take that experience home.
Speaker 2: And we're excited about the ability to grow our active
Speaker 2: space our revenue base by using Nevada as the place
Speaker 2: to acquire new players top line. Additionally, this year we've
Speaker 2: got the first season for North Carolina, We've got a
Speaker 2: district wide district wide sports betting in DC. Our market
Speaker 2: has expanded as well as it being a market share game,
Speaker 2: and we also look forward to Alberta, which has signaled
Speaker 2: its regulation coming November or it's close to November as
Speaker 2: they can manage, which will introduce another sports betting and
Speaker 2: I gaming state.
Speaker 1: So sports fans I think about, you know, watching a
Speaker 1: game or going to a game for that matter, they're
Speaker 1: bombarded with betting content. It's kind of everywhere they turn
Speaker 1: in the physical space and on their screens as well.
Speaker 1: And there are some serious questions on whether the marketing
Speaker 1: campaigns have become oversaturated. So my question to you, Adam
Speaker 1: is how do you build up awareness of bet MGM
Speaker 1: without annoying or turning off potential customers.
Speaker 2: That's an important question we have. Well, we're opting for
Speaker 2: continuity this year for BETMGM. We've got a brand new
Speaker 2: campaign headlined again by the one and only Jamie Fox,
Speaker 2: and we're going to see him in a new cityuations
Speaker 2: with new messages, but are always consistent with BETMGM as
Speaker 2: a premium omni channel experience that is born in Vegas,
Speaker 2: which is synonymous with hospitality and entertainment, and so we
Speaker 2: seek to separate ourselves based on that positioning.
Speaker 1: So another word is doubling down on your Vegas rus
Speaker 1: appreciate it, Adam, thank you so much. Adam Greenblatt is
Speaker 1: CEO of BET MGM,